Dark Magic Oatmeal
31 Mar
Last night, Jenn from Eating Bender asked me a great question on my “Ask Anything Post“
Could you talk a bit about how you come up with your oatmeal creations? I know a lot of it is sheer genius (hehe), but does it hit you when you wake up, or do you stare at the fridge for inspiration, etc? I’d love to hear the “story” behind the cute stories!
I thought I’d explore that question just a bit this morning by describing my thinking process behind today’s bowl of oatmeal. How ironic that today’s bowl of oatmeal was planned to be plain:
When was the last time you saw a plain-looking bowl of oatmeal on this blog?
There has to be a catch, right?
……….Of course! Today’s oatmeal includes a little shot of Dark Magic.
I came up with this morning’s bowl of oatmeal last night as I was lying awake in bed. On nights I can’t sleep, I try my best not to look at the clock. I tend to get even more stressed out if I do and then stay awake longer. Last night I glanced at the clock and it said 2 a.m. It was around that same time that I told myself two things:
- There is nothing in the refrigerator for oatmeal, and I want to sleep in so tomorrow’s bowl has to be basic.
- Maybe I’ll add coffee to represent my sleep deprivation?
I did consider trying to jazz up the top of this bowl with an apple, orange or blueberries, but honestly – I just really liked the mocha coloring of the bowl after I was finished.
This morning’s bowl of oatmeal was much different than normal mornings. For starters, Monday is my late night where I don’t get home from work and school until 11:45 p.m., so the last thing I want to do in the morning is worry about cooking. Secondly, we did not go grocery shopping this weekend, so I had few fun ingredients on hand.
But two things are generally true about my oatmeal combinations:
- I come up with combinations the night before, and I usually try and think of something new.
- There are occasions where I buy a special ingredient at the store specifically for an idea I have in my head.
When/how do you find inspiration to create certain dishes?
Tags: Oatmeal
Looks gooooood!!
**Question for ya = does it take you a while to come up with the spectacular stories that go along with the oats, or does the inspiration for those stories just “hit” you??
Simplicity looks yum!
Inspiration comes from… humm.. blog reading?
great idea to add the coffee into the oats. My inspiration for meals comes from blogs, food network shows, magazines, cookbooks and family/friends!
i hope your tummy is better today!
love the basic oatmeal
What an interesting idea for oats.
I get a lot of inspiration from the food blogs I read. And, I guess I’m just a little creative with the crockpot. I also just started reading Cooking Light, so that’s my new inspiration for Spring cooking.
Hope the tummy is better!
sometimes the simplest things are the best things
enjoy your tuesday!
I always try to recreate tastes of my past, if that makes any sense? I remember something my mom made when I was little, and think about what kind of tastes were in it.. then add only the healthy ones, think about how to make sure it keeps me full, and try it out! OR I remember a delicious meal I had and want to try and recreate, or I just see something that looks perfectly in season and then think up some fun meal with it!
LOL, I don’t think I’ve ever seen plain oatmeal on your blog! It looks really good, though!
Yay! I’m so glad you picked my question to answer
Sorry I’m super late in actually seeing the post. I love that you had “plain” oatmeal today – that’s definitely not something we see very often! I’ve never tried coffee in my oatmeal, either. But thank you for explaining your story making process.
I definitely find that most of my inspiration comes hours or even days before I even make the meal. That way I build up the anticipation and excitement in my head so that I put even more effort into making sure it comes out how I intended it to! But if it doesn’t…well then I guess it’s an imperfect masterpiece, as most things in life are!